Joining a new familyMembers talk about their experience in the Greek community

Georgeana Treviño, a kinesiology freshman who was unsure of what the university life would have in store for her, felt it was a challenge transitioning into being a college student.

“One of the first friends that I made on campus, unbeknownst to me, was an [Alpha Sigma Tau] lady, she was a member,” Treviño said. “She just seemed, like, she just had her life together. Like, adjusting to college, for me, was very difficult. Was very, very hard. I met her last semester–this semester she just asked me to go to one event. … I was very up for it. I was, like, ‘Yes, let’s go.’ I was just going to things with them because they became my friends.”

Treviño is trying to become an official AST sorority sister on the Edinburg campus. Including the possible new members, the sorority consists of 47 women.

Cindy Ortega Ramos, president of the sorority, said the organization’s goal is to “empower women to become more independent, to be themselves and to feel comfortable within themselves.”

“We like to praise their individuality and give back to the community,” Ortega Ramos said.

The initiation process for new members includes classes in which they are taught sorority traditions and history. They must take the national exam, which comes from the headquarters and is required for initiation into the sorority, the president said.

UTRGV has six sororities and nine fraternities in Edinburg and only one co-ed fraternity in Brownsville, Alpha Psi Lambda. “For Alpha Psi Lambda our basis are family and unity,” said Vanessa Soto, president of the fraternity. “We are national and Latino based, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t accept other ethnicities.”

Alpha Psi Lambda has 14 members. Malleny Guajardo, a law and justice studies senior, is a new member.

“One of the things that really caught my attention was that it was a co-ed fraternity,” Guajardo said. “I liked it because it gave me a sense of working not just with women but with also males.”

Guajardo, who was initiated in Spring 2015, said the process was interesting.

“You get to know your line members even more,” she said. “You may not know them, but at the end of the process you know them completely.

You know the type of people they are, you know that they’ll always be there for you.”

Treviño recommends those who are interested in Greek community life to consider it.

“It’s these friends that you’re going to come extremely close to,” she said. “It’s so wonderful. I’m so organized now, they keep you on top of things. I feel, like besides [belonging] to something, like, I’m doing something for the community.”

Part of the requirements to join the sorority is for the members to complete community service hours and get involved in the campus community as well.

For more information about Greek sororities and fraternities at UTRGV, visit Vlink at utpa.collegiatelink.net.